Tag Archives: life

I’ve been very neglectful of my blog lately. I’ve been reading like crazy, but the motivation to sit down and write my reviews has been lacking. I’ve actually been reading magazines more than books. Anything I can get my hands on, from Time to The Atlantic, to In Style and Glamour magazine.

At some point, you will see reviews for the following;

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Research Virtuoso, Mockingjay, and In the Shadow of the Wind.

This month as been an odd month. I was let go from my primary librarian position, so I have more free time on my hands. Now I work only 3 days a week, something around 20-24 hours. Right now I’ve been reading more and crafting more. I’m working on 2 knitting projects, a cardigan and a pair of leggings. Yes, leggings. 80s style, big, baggy, over the jeans, leggings. It gets so cold during the winter and my normal sweatpants don’t always do the job. Besides, it seems like the 80s are making a comeback with some fierceness.

Other news…I’m waiting for school to start at the end of September. I’ll be taking some community college courses on Child Development for a certification program. If its anything I’ve figured out during my short stint as a librarian, its that I like working with kids and that I want to really focus and put my energies towards becoming a children’s librarian.

My birthday is also coming up at the end of September. The big 2-7. 3 years closer to 30. 7 months closer to my wedding. 7 months closer to my 2 week honeymoon in Europe. 7 more months until I get to celebrate the Festival of Saint Jordi in Barcelona.

Lots of good things to look forward to, too bad the real good stuff is happening in 2011. At least I can look forward to the Fall TV season starting again this week! America’s Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, The Biggest Loser, etc.

Is there a bookworm out there who has never made the statement; “I will read every single book in my public library”?

I made that statement in 9th grade. I walked into the library, bright eyed and full of enthusiasm to start reading. I left home with the very first book on the shelves from the adult fiction, nonfiction, teen fiction, and children’s fiction sections.

I made myself comfy on my bed, the books stacked to my right and a plate of cookies stacked to my left. I picked up the first book, the adult nonfiction and turned the pages to see what I had blindly picked up (I didn’t check the titles on any of the books, nor read any synopsis).

Turns out, the first and last book on my “read through the library” experience was about a famed scientist out in boonies in Texas who claimed to have been abducted by aliens, written in immense detail.

I regret having given up my reading quest because of some nutty guy who probably just had a really graphic dream. Maybe that’s why I started working as a librarian, to constantly remind myself that I need to read every single book in the building.

If I were to start again, would I narrow it down to just Adult fiction and nonfiction? I think nonfiction would be more fun, more challenging to say the least.

Sometimes I think it would a lot of fun to participate in all those one year challenges; A Year Without Made in China, The Happiness Project,Up for Renewal, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. But instead of spending a year trying to be healthy, or a year not buying products from China, I would only invest a month or two.

What would be awesome, is if I can compile 12 different topics and delegate one for each month of the year. Write up all my experiences in a separate blog and then turn that blog into a book and turn that book into a movie.

I’ve been very absent from blogging for the majority of 2010. I haven’t really been reading much. I haven’t been able to really get immersed into any adult fiction books this year. Maybe I read too many last year, but this year I’ve just been bored with every book I pick up, except for children’s and teen books. I’ve started out this year reading more children’s books and hopefully that’ll turn into more adult fiction books. I’m reading Anna Karenina for my book club, which is more of a reread actually. I don’t know why Russian authors get such a bad reputation for their books. I love Russian literature, except for Lolita…that book still give me shutters.

Most of my enery this past week has been towards my guinea pig, Ginny. She had a really bad limp on Monday night, but she’s mostly recovered now. She’s 7 years old (really, really old for guinea pigs), but she’s still really stubborn and resilient. I’ve had her for about 5 years now and she’s a wonderful pet.

I’ve been on a knitting whirlwind this year, which is why I haven’t been reading much. I can only do one or the either. I’ve made a good number of large projects this year. A sweater, a cardigan, a pair of socks and a shrug.

Chris and I celebrated Valentine’s Day by going to see Cirque du Soilel this year, Ovo. If you haven’t been to a performance, then I highly recommend it. Ovo is a lot more dance-influenced than the other ones I’ve seen, but the costumes are amazing, the story is enchanting and the acrobatics are just stupefying.

Well, that’s my 2010 in a nutshell. =p Hopefully it’ll get more entertaining as the year progresses.

I went to the optometrist last week to find out that my eyesight has actually improved. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 6 years old, and to an avid reader, the threat of losing one’s eyesight is really scary.

I picked out a cool new set of frames, a style I’ve never worn before. But now these glasses fit a little too snug behind my ears and I just get a headache wearing them for a while. I’m not sure if I just have to get used to them, because I really don’t want to have to exchange them.

NaNoWriMo is finally over, and I ended the challenge with a whopping 10,206 words!! Whoo!! Now I’m ready to start editing. Overall, its a horrible little story, not very original, but hey, its fun and distracting and keeps me occupied in front of the computer.

I pose a philosophical question. I came across one of those usual conundrums of life, one of those age-old questions that will never have a good enough answer during one of my periodic moments of venting my frustrations with my boyfriend.

I’m 25 years old, about to finish graduate school, in a loving healthy long-distance relationship, good relationship with family, my best friends are so fantastic I sometimes wonder if they are real.

I’m not unhappy with my life by any means, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish my life were different. There are aspects of my personality that I would like to improve, but sometimes, it seems like personality is an element that you cannot control, and cannot manipulate. Some people can walk into a room and grab everyone’s attention, other people blend into the wallpaper…which am I? I am a full-blown workaholic, but at heart, I am steadfastly lazy. How do some people end up a perfectionists, and other’s not? The study of personality fascinates me to no end, which is mainly why I read so much. Its my own way to learn about different people, in different situations and trying to put myself in their shoes reading their thoughts and feeling their emotions. But this has a downside, because whenever I read a really good book, or watch a really good movie, I’m left with a feeling of sadness because I witnessed someone else’s life, someone else’s story while these passing moments of my life were left unfilled with stories of my own to share. These people have drive, ambition, courage to take the necessary steps to ensure that something worthwhile is going on in their lives. Why live vicariously through someone else’s life when my own is ready and waiting to be taken out into the world, ready to explore, to experience? Moments like these always make me want major changes in my life, to my personality, my actions, my routines, but nothing ever really changes.

My main point is this:
I hate feeling like I always “want” to do this or that, to “want” to be more of something, less of something. Why do I want? Why can’t I just be happy being who I am, where I am and with what I have?

But, isn’t that “want” that drives people? If I didn’t want change, wouldn’t my life become inert and I would never develop and improve? If we never settle, never accept what we are, then when will it end? Why should we settle when we know something better waits for us out there?